MzTeachuh is a resource blog providing educational links for professional development, timely articles for special needs, ed tech and STEM, as well as interesting and amusing posts in the Fine Arts and the Humanities.
This is a picture book by Doreen Rappaport and profoundly illustrated by
Bryan Collier. The quotations arise from Dr. King's childhood up to his
last speech. The thoughts and words insert themselves into all open
minds, and really encourage all kids to feel empowered.
Dr. King relied on his knowledge of the Bible, and also leaders such as
Ghandi to encourage the non-violent movement. Why was there a need for a
civil rights movement? Segregation of the races in the USA. "You are as good as anyone." resonates in kids and adults for all reasons of suggested inferiority.
Infusing confidence in kids is vital "When I grow up, I'm going to get big words, too." Even a little boy or girl can have a vision of a future where they are empowered, valued, and important.
Dr. King included everyone in his philosophy. When he stated, "Everyone can be great." that included all people of all races, ages, nationalities, genders, and religions. Everyone.
"Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
Kids need strength to overcome negativity just like adults do. Moms,
dads, families, schools, churches all coordinate to grow strength of
character and develop focus for positive emotions in the young.
This is a must-have book for all teachers' library, no matter the age of
the students. Read it aloud even to seniors in high school.
There is a wonderful site called 'Frame-a-Quote' with thousands of
quotations listed by topic and author; kids can also create their own
quotes and frame them. It is very empowering. Please check it out. I
used it with high school sophomores, and it was excellent. We pretty
much wall-papered the classroom with their original quotes, their 'big
words.'
Looking forward to visiting Washington, D.C., and the new monument with
Martin's Big Words on a granite wall. Dr. King used his brilliant mind
to help us all. He influenced civil rights, women's rights, special
education, gender equality, opportunities for all workers. I recently
read a comment about the Occupy Movement (which I think Dr. King would
have supported) that racial equality was a settled question and now the
question was economic. I'm guessing the writer was sitting in the
penthouse of his ivory tower when he posted that. We need all equality
all the time. Every human born needs to be educated in equality.
Ongoing. Every new baby.
We all hate to admit we are not perfect, but a little self-examination goes a long way. http://www.tolerance.org/hiddenbias
Are we undermining ourselves with bias?
Various wheat seeds.
This is a cool thought about saving seeds since we're always worried about truffla seeds disappearing.
This is not Dr. Seuss' Lorax. It is a spin-off. So now that we established that, you can go and see it and know what to expect.
It's pleasing, and appeals to baby-boomers and those who like classic pop music and classic T.V. Which is fine. Cutesy baby boomer in-jokes that little kids don't get are just fine since the little kids aren't paying for the tickets. But where is the message from Dr. Seuss?
If you really want the Lorax, buy the book and sit down with a little kid and read it together. Use a real book. With pages. It doesn't matter what the age of the reader is, since all of us care about trees, and our natural world. After reading the book, go into the garden and plant something like a truffla tree. Or maybe just a pot of pansies. Get involved with real nature that you can smell, and water, and stick your fingers in. Grow a kidney bean--little kids are astonished how fast they grow. We're looking for kids to fall in love with nature-- not a Glee-like animation Broadway production.
I don't think the original story of the Lorax was really meant to entertain, although in the film I really did love the fish. And I was amused by the song about capitalism and Darwin. But the story by Dr. Seuss was intended to be expressed in the partnership of readers, big and little, with room for conversation, questions and plans for what we will do about our world. Maybe some justified anger and environmental activism.
The Lorax was written just nine years afterSilent Spring, by Rachel Carson, which was the shocking expose of the damage to the environment by pesticides. And, of course, the nuclear age was still on folks' minds because testing hadn't stopped yet. What a thought, huh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring
An unestimable number of Americans have adopted green habits since childhood and continued for decades and decades because of Dr. Seuss. So, we can enjoy the superficial fluff of the Seuss inspired films, but let's not skip the origins.
Dr. Seuss apparently loved children, and wrote material that affected their minds in a very positive way. In part, because reading the book is generally a shared experience with an older reader that creates an enormously positive memory. Or a lovely event at school. And the experience is reviewed when the child reads the book again. Dr. Seuss incorporated marvelous themes while being wildly creative. And we would trade that in for an average movie day or cold, isolating dvd to be watched alone?
This is a picture book by Doreen Rappaport and profoundly illustrated by Bryan Collier. The quotations arise from Dr. King's childhood up to his last speech. The thoughts and words insert themselves into all open minds, and really encourage kids to feel empowered.
Dr. King relied on his knowledge of the Bible, and also leaders such as Ghandi to encourage the non-violent movement. Why was there a need for a civil rights movement? Segregation of the races in the USA. "You are as good as anyone." resonates in kids and adults for all reasons of suggested inferiority.
Infusing confidence in kids is vital "When I grow up, I'm going to get big words, too." Even a little boy or girl can have a vision of a future where they are empowered, valued, and important.
Dr. King included everyone in his philosophy. When he stated, "Everyone can be great." that included all people of all races, ages, nationalities, genders, and religions. Everyone.
"Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
Kids need strength to overcome negativity just like adults do. Moms, dads, families, schools, churches all coordinate to grow strength of character and develop focus for positive emotions in the young.
This is a must-have book for all teachers' library, no matter the age of the students. Read it aloud even to seniors in high school.
There is a wonderful site called 'Frame-a-Quote' with thousands of quotations listed by topic and author; kids can also create their own quotes and frame them. It is very empowering. Please check it out. I used it with high school sophomores, and it was excellent. We pretty much wall-papered the classroom with their original quotes, their 'big words.'
Looking forward to visiting Washington, D.C., and the new monument with Martin's Big Words on a granite wall. Dr. King used his brilliant mind to help us all. He influenced civil rights, women's rights, special education, gender equality, opportunities for all workers. I recently read a comment about the Occupy Movement (which I think Dr. King would have supported) that racial equality was a settled question and now the question was economic. I'm guessing the writer was sitting in the penthouse of his ivory tower when he posted that. We need all equality all the time. Every human born needs to be educated in equality. Ongoing. Every new baby.
All kids find sensitive moms a blessing, but children with disabilities in particular. Soon I will share more information on 'Gentle Teaching' and other non-aggressive forms of behavior modification.
Emotionally Disturbed is a category of learning disability. The learning team is made up of family, medical staff, teaching staff, and, of course, the student. This is an article from the L A Times about a little girl named January diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Jani draws a picture of her imaginary pet, 400 Cat.
How is mental illness and other processing disabilities identified? BTW, I don't know why this article places learning or processing disorders under the category of mental illness.
One is not connected to the other.
Teacher for the Emotionally Disturbed teaching reading
An effective class for the Emotionally Disturbed is orderly, interesting, and empowering. Here is a glimpse of one that made it to the news--there are thousands of great programs that do not get publicity.
"As hard as it is, Luna doesn’t let sympathy for her students
interfere with her ability to help them. Her teaching style is loving
but firm. She sings fun songs, imitates animal sounds and ends books
with a spirited shout of “Ta da!”
"At times, she is picky about even the little things, like whether
students raise their hands and how they walk across the classroom. It's
all part of retraining their brains to behave in a school appropriate
manner. They won’t get out of completing their work, no matter how much
they whine, protest or act out."
These are comments from her administrator.
“Jennifer is structured yet flexible and genuinely cares about every
student she has,” Alexander said. “The children know they can count on
her. She works and works and works until something works.”
Lots of individual attention--here is hand-over-hand writing.
Here is an incident during the schoolday:
One morning in early December, Luna sat with a student wading through
a book about babies. When they finished, Luna turned back to the first
page so they could read it again.
The student, who had not learned to control his emotions, banged his left fist on the table.
“Why are we reading it again?” he demanded. “I don’t want to read this dumb baby book.”
He continued to slouch in his chair and then threw himself on the floor. Luna made no eye contact.
Teacher reading with student.
When she got up to help another student, the boy moved to the top of a
table. By the time Luna returned, he was back in his chair. She started
to read the book, and slowly he began reading with her.
"Because of bad experiences in preschool, this student is working
through old hurts." Luna said students often feel bad because they don’t
know how to read or do math problems as well as others do. Compared to
what he used to get upset about, Luna says this incident was minor.
“In May, he’ll be walking back to table to read without whining,” she said with confidence.
A wonderful accomplishment: playing together.
I have experience teaching students designated emotionally disturbed. This teaching assignment is very rewarding as well as requiring authentic professionalism on a superior level. Our students had family, counselors, teaching staff and other therapists that were tremendous. It was a privilege to serve on their teams.
Here is a dramatic graphic presentation of Van Gogh's painting 'Starry Night.' Vincent Van Gogh was hospitalized late in his life for what sounds now like bi-polar disorder or schizophrenia. But did that affect his painting? Who knows. New research suggests he may have been murdered. This is a moving creation of his work. (Sorry about the pun.)
We had the opportunity to see "Sunflowers" at the National Museum in London last summer--a deep experience of profound communication from the artist to the viewer that I can't fully explain. Wouldn't it be powerful if all of us-- labeled 'handicapped' or not-- could find our venue to reach out to others like Vincent Van Gogh did?
Don McClean's "Starry, Starry Night" beautifully describes Van Gogh's effect on people. This is a slow version of the song. The YouTube presenter's choice of paintings is exquisite. Maybe YouTube should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize afterall.
A third grader, small for his age, could really run fast during practice for his elementary school's Olympic Day. It was his way to shine. His tennies were worn out, so Teacher got him a new pair at Wal-Mart. He made the school proud. This school district was low income, and located near a federal prison, therefore many families were in the area to be living nearby to visit relatives. The little boy also worked very hard at reading, writing, and math, including those impossible fractions. After the January 19th holiday, he asked Teacher, "Why don't they make Dr. Martin Luther King bedsheets? They make them for Superman." He had chosen the better hero.
This is a true story, and I hope the little guy is now a grown, happy, and functional adult, since I last had him at school in 1995. He had the odds against him, but hopefully some encouragement from reading in school has remained with him. http://www.amazon.com/Martins-Big-Words-Martin-Luther/dp/0786807148
This story of Dr. King and his profound words will be like miracle grow to the young soul, no matter what color his skin may be.
Another story is enormously famous, but is new to the kids, of course. It is the incredible story of Helen Keller, in her own words.
"My Dark Night," is Helen's eloquent relating of the struggle to introduce language into her isolated world by her teacher Annie Sullivan. And the retelling of being trapped in a tree during a thunderstorm is a masterpiece of personal narrative. Students physically handicapped or not can live Helen's experience through her marvelous talent of writing. http://www.afb.org/mylife/book.asp?ch=P1Ch5 This is an online link to her Chapter V. Helen had a brilliant mind, and she expressed such optimism. This could seem so mysterious to kids. How could someone blind and deaf and not really able to speak be happy? That's a genuine life lesson. The film, The Miracle Worker amazes kids with its ferocity and startling clarity. I favor the 1962 version with Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft. You could also read the play with older kids.
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